The move turned the tables on Moreno, who last week asked a judge to file charges against several private economists for "speculation," accusing them of trying to enrich their clients by releasing false information.

Judge Claudio Bonadio also placed a 50,000-peso ($8,735) lien on the minister's assets pending trial, and filed similar charges and liens against two lower-ranking commerce ministry officials. They could face two years in prison if convicted.

The judge said Moreno's efforts to fine economists 500,000 pesos (roughly $87,700 at the official exchange rate) was "nothing other than an effort to silence" experts who were releasing "public information" in the form of technical data that challenges the government's numbers. The official statistics agency, INDEC, routinely reports annual inflation of around 10 percent.